The Hindu : Five injured as train derails

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Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

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Five injured as train derails

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MARCH 22. Ten bogies of the Howrah-Jodhpur Express train derailed between Sitapura and Sheodaspura railway stations, nearly 20 km from here, early this morning, injuring five persons, including a railway employee. Two of the injured were admitted to hospital and three discharged after first aid.

The mishap occurred at about 3:00 a.m. when the train was approaching Jaipur and had slowed down. Even though eight of the train's bogies derailed and two overturned, there were no serious injuries apparently because of the slow speed. Senior railway officials, accompanied by the medical and relief teams, and police officials rushed to the spot and rescued passengers, many of whom were trapped inside the bogies. The derailed bogies included seven sleeper coaches, one air-conditioned coach, one ordinary coach and one SLR coach.

Though the cause of the derailment was not yet known, the Railways have ruled out the possibility of any sabotage. "We have ordered a special inquiry to find out whether there was an element of mechanical failure or human negligence in the accident,'' R.M. Agrawal, General Manager of North-West Railway, told The Hindu. He said it seemed prima facie that one of the derailed coaches had some technical fault as nothing abnormal was found on the railway track. The track measuring 500 metres was badly damaged and the work was on full swing to restore it. The passengers of the train, most of whom were sleeping at the time of accident, felt an abrupt jolt and a large number of them were thrown off the berths. The two injured who were hospitalised were identified as Chop Singh, a railway employee, and Sanjeev Singh. The stranded passengers of Howrah-Jodhpur Express were brought here in four bogies which had not derailed. While the train proceeded for its onward journey after extra coaches being attached to it, the balance fare was refunded to passengers who did not wish to continue the journey.

About a dozen express, mail and passenger trains running in the Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur section were either diverted or rescheduled due to disruption in traffic. .

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Five injured as train derails